A Recent Trip to Marseille

Took a trip to Marseille a couple weeks ago. I've been hearing everyone talk about it. Americans are going. Brits are going. It's a real hotspot right now. Some people are calling it the new Berlin. Who knows - but the place is alive!

It's funny as a Frenchman hearing a town that you've always heard such mixed reviews about get pushed to the forefront of town trendiness. So, I went to visit myself. With a particular angle - eating and drinking. And well, you gotta kill the time between meals, so we walked around and swam too.

So let's start with that -- one very cool thing about Marseille is the ability to go urban swimming. Pebbly, rocky, city beaches. Tons of graffiti, people snacking, drinking, it's a bit of a party. And you can get in the sea too - the water's pretty glorious. It's the Mediterranean after all. The perfect setting for a bottle of delicious Mura Mura 2023, from the South of France. Delicious red and white blend, tons of fragrant cherries from the red and aromatic flowery notes from the muscat in the white blend. Yum!!

Marseille is bursting with energy. It's a place where you feel that locals are living in the street, for 9 months every year. The weather right now is 31 degrees and bright sunshine everyday. You've got that maritime influence. Naturally, when it cools down a bit at night, everyone's out on the local squares, drinking, and drinking in style. In this type of setting, I love to drink wines like Misturas 2023, a refreshing Albariño full of saline characteristics, with some easy going complexity, from Galicia. Or perhaps Zu Defruit 2022 (this means fruit juice - self explanatory enough?), a Loire valley light red giving bursting red zippy fruity, like blueberries with a touch of spice, perfect.

You must go for lunch, or for dinner. Why not hit natural wine hotspots La Mercerie or Prémices - precise high quality cooking, in a relaxed environment, with a deep natural wine list. Alongside your smoked aubergine, with whipped tahini and homemade pitta bread, you might want to drink something more serious. Why not pick up our last bottle of Les Cedres 2015, by Anne & Jean-François Ganevat (this is super rare stuff just released from our cellar). 10 years old Chardonnay, aged for 30 months on the lees, and ever since in bottle. Expect structured acidity, giving the wine a lovely backbone, candied citrus, confected honey, straw like characteristics. A slightly oily texture, length for days. An absolutely stunning wine. If red is more up your alley for this nicer meal, then I suggest Gibus 2023 by Domaine Les Bottes Rouges in Jura. This gorgeous medium bodied Trousseau has complex fruit characteristics (bruised cherries, strawberry purée), notes of spice and earthiness to make it a bottle of wine to think about for a while

Back from dinner in your hotel and not ready to go to bed? If you don't want to go out, I might suggest a night cap. I love to end the night with bubbles, so why not drink in style and drink Champagne? You could go for Goustan Champagne Brut Nature 2020, 100% Pinot Noir, this Champagne is rich, round and complex (by the way you could also pick this up and cellar it -- it's got many, many years ahead). If Pet' Nat' is more your style, why not pick up this Slovakian 100% Chardonnay sparkling which was sold to us as "the best Pet' Nat' I've ever had". Naturally we had to open a bottle on the night, and well, we might just agree there.

So there. You got it. In Marseille, you'll drink in style. If this hasn't made you want to visit Marseille, at least you've got some ideas for your next trip. Eat, drink, swim maybe, and wander in between, waiting for the next meal to come along.

Till next time! <3